The Missionary Congregation of Saint Andrew the Apostle (С.M.S.A.A. , ) is a congregation of the

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a Major archiepiscopal church, major archiepiscopal ''sui iuris'' ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Cathol ...

that is present in Ukraine and Italy and that has its Mother House in

Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk (, ), formerly Stanyslaviv, Stanislav and Stanisławów, is a city in western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as well as Ivano-Frankivsk Raion within the oblast. Ivano-Frankivsk also host ...

, Ukraine. The congregation was established as eparchial right in the

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk The Archparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk (or Ivano-Frankivsk of the Ukrainians) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. It was erected in 2011. It is the metropolitan of an eccles ...

by Fr. Irineusz Michalik on 30 November 1997 with benediction of the Eparchial Bishop emeritus Sofron Dmyterko,

O.S.B.M. The Order of Saint Basil the Great (; , abbreviated OSBM), also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is a Greek Catholic monastic order of pontifical right that works actively among Ukrainian Catholics and other Greek-Catholic churc ...

History

After the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

the religious life became to flourish in the

in independent

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Some old communities have been restored and new ones established. In 1997 among them was founded a new missionary congregation under patronage of St.

Andrew the Apostle Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

, who is considered in the early Christian history of Ukraine as missionary and preacher on the southern borders of modern-day

, along the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. Founder is Fr. Irineusz Mariusz Michalik, who was born in 1967 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, but was ordained as Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest for the Eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Notable members

Yosafat Moschych Bishop Yosafat Bohdan Moschych, С.M.S.A.A. (; born 16 September 1976 in Staryi Rozdil, Mykolaiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ukrainian Greek Catholic hierarch as the first eparchial bishop of the new cr ...

, Superior General (2003–2013) and auxiliary bishop of the

Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk The Archparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk (or Ivano-Frankivsk of the Ukrainians) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. It was erected in 2011. It is the metropolitan of an ecclesi ...

(since 2014).

References

{{reflist

External links

Profile at gcatholic.org
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Eastern Catholic orders and societies Christian religious orders established in the 20th century Christian missionary societies Christian organizations established in 1997